The production of Scream 7 has been a troubled one, with a series of creative retooling’s taking place during the production of the seventh film in the franchise that used to be the child of horror legend Wes Craven. Craven directed the first four films, and after his unfortunate death in 2015, Spyglass Media Group and Paramount Pictures looked to revive the franchise. Revive the franchise they did, as Scream 5 and 6 released in 2022 and 2023 respectively and became box office smash hits, marking the Scream franchise back in the big leagues. Scream 6 would not be without its small amount of controversy, as the franchise left behind its lead actor, Neve Campbell, lowballing the actress for pay in the franchise that she was the so-claimed ‘final girl’ of. This would only be the start of the trouble that would come for this franchise, with Scream 4 and 6 directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett announcing they would not return to wrap up this trilogy, and they would be replaced by Freaky and Happy Death Day director Christopher Landon. These directors would not be the only people leaving the franchise, as replacement lead for the franchise, Melissa Barerra, would be fired from the 7th film after the film was paused during the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike. Barrera’s firing came from the studio’s claim of her supporting antisemitism on her social medias, after posting pro-Palestinian videos during the Gaza War. This would be the catalyst that would cause many to boycott the film, and created a domino effect of more problems, from other lead actress Jenna Ortega to leave the project, and to lose new director Christopher Landon.
This soon caused a clear panic mode for the studio, as Paramount and Spyglass quickly made the decision to repair their relationship with former series star Neve Campbell, with her returning as lead, and to move the franchise as far as possible from Ortega and Barerra. Kevin Williamson, who wrote the original, would finally return to the franchise after being absent since the 4th entry, and would sit in the director’s chair this time around. The franchise seemed to fall back into what any franchise does when it faces controversy, hide from it by filling the film with nostalgia. The marketing of this film has hit home that Matthew Lillard is returning as Stu Macher, and the trades have already leaked that David Arquette and Scott Foley would return as Dewey and Roman Bridger respectively. It reeks of desperation, and the film reflects that. Scream 7 picks up after the events of the New York attacks in the previous film, as Sydney lives a safe life with her daughter and husband. When a new Ghostface arrives to her sleepy town, hunting for her daughter, and potentially in leagues with Stu Macher, she is forced out of retirement to stop another massacre.
Scream was once the most consistent horror franchise out there, none of them could hold up to the original film, but they all felt genuine worthwhile experiences, that had something to say about the genre and the state of Hollywood at the time. Scream 7 is the first time that the franchise has genuinely nothing to say and feels like it was made only to make some money. There are some small commentaries on true crime, the never-ending cycle of Sydney being brought back repeatedly, and the absence of Sydney from the previous film play a role in the film’s narrative. All of this feels only like surface dressing however, and feels incredibly underbaked, as the film attempts to remove itself from the commentary, and instead taking itself incredibly seriously. A part of Scream was how it perfectly played both sides; it could be incredibly graphic and intense but also played with the genre in comedic ways and Ghostface himself could be a terrible killer. This film plays everything way too straight, which leads to some unintentionally comedic moments, and removes the fun.
The movie has some brutal kills, the pure highlight of the film, but the movie really stands apart from the franchise because it feels like it has nothing to do with the franchise outside of its nostalgia pandering. The nostalgia feels all-consuming to a franchise that usually jokes around with its own connections to the wider genre, and the nostalgia feels like a crux here, the only thing it can really offer when it has no commentary to tell. The movie recreates various scenes from the original, including out of place musical queues, all to elicit some sort of nostalgia twinge to its audience. It is the type of thing the franchise should be making fun of, not actually doing, and that goes for the storyline where the film is essentially recreating Laurie’s motherhood storyline from both H20 and the 2018 Halloween film.
Neve Campbell delivers an incredible performance here, feeling like she has never left the role as Sydney feels authentic as ever. Every scene she owns, and she really elevates some really excruciating dialogue, and the movie’s focus on her coming to terms with her trauma is one of the very few good parts of such a messy script. Her relationship with her daughter is the central focus of the film, dealing with generational trauma as the Ghostface killers decide to target her daughter, Tatum, and make her become the next Sydney. Isabel May delivers a solid performance as Tatum, but she does not feel as fleshed out as the protagonists of 5 and 6, and she very much falls back into being the moody teenager character. Joel McHale also does a solid job as Sydney’s husband, Mark, who the film quickly makes you like as he shares great chemistry with Campbell. The character was very clearly written originally to be Mark Kincaid, a character introduced in Scream 3, played by Patrick Dempsey, but with the actor unable to return, they pivoted and changed Mark to another Mark. McHale’s Mark is a solid replacement for such a legacy character, however. The biggest problem of the film is how many characters are in the cast, and how little the film uses those characters.
Celeste O’Connor, McKenna Grace, Sam Rechner and Asa Germann play the friendship of Tatum, a group of characters that appear in every movie, and the movie doesn’t even bother to make them characters, they are just in the film to add to the body count. It is hard to care when the characters exist to die, and when the deaths are so brutal, it feels almost mean-spirited. Other returning characters include Gale, who after Sydney’s absence in 6 is the only character to appear in all 7 movies, and Chad and Mindy, the remaining leads from the 5th and 6th film. These characters feel like they could be removed from the film and nothing would change, superfluous characters who are only bearable because the performances are so charming.
Kevin Williamson has only directed one film before this, the 1999 black-comedy feature Teaching Mrs Tingle, and with a 27-year gap in directing, his direction here is very surprising and strong. The film looks great, and has some very striking shots, and cinematographer Ramsey Nickell heightens so many kill sequences by making them look frighteningly beautiful. It can only be said that Williamson should have probably spent as much time polishing his script as he did prepare for the actual film shoot. Every great who-dunnite mystery feature has various red herrings, characters designed to be mysterious and make the audience think that they are the ones responsible. Scream has used this trope various times across the various films, from the boyfriend character in Scream 2, and the new Deputy in Scream 4, this film makes the use of various red herrings, but these characters make a flimsy plot fall apart completely. Characters completely disappear from the plot with no end in sight for their storylines, and various plot threads barely come together to make a cohesive plot. It feels like multiple different scripts that have just been thrown together, with such big elements like Stu’s return feeling superfluous to the actual plot taking place.
Williamson has already stated that there were various scenes cut in the original version, with a chase sequence with Gale being a big one, and that can really explain why so many elements feel so half-baked and left behind. It can also explain why the Ghostface reveals are so underwhelming as well. No spoilers of course, half the fun of these movies are figuring out who the killers are, but these killers are the most underwhelming of the franchise, feeling both incredibly obvious and so underwhelming with how little they appear in the film before the grand reveal. A middling movie could be saved by a great reveal and fantastic conclusion, but the Ghostface reveal just destroys any good will left. First the finale gives us a embarrassing cameo-fest of characters phoning in lines where they look like they just got out of bed, and then the actual killer reveals leave the audience underwhelmed. The motive makes no sense and doesn’t really add to Sydney’s overall storyline, and feels more at home with a typical slasher, and not the Scream franchise that this used to be.
Scream 7 is a disappointing franchise return, a movie that seems desperate to make you forget about the previous entries and the controversy that came from Melissa Barrera’s firing. Nostalgia is the focus of this film, recreating scenes from Craven’s classic and bringing back as many characters as possible, even if these do not fit into the comedic tone of the franchise. Neve Campbell delivers a great performance, and the kills are brutal and creative, but they are the only highlights of this absolute mess of a feature. The film takes itself way too seriously for it to be fun, the supporting cast feel underdeveloped and boring to watch, and the script feels like a first draft with how much it doesn’t make sense. With Williamson supposedly attached to helm Scream 8 already, as well after the box office hit this film has been, it can only be hoped that he learns from the mistakes of this film and delivers a better product. However, it truly feels like this franchise has outlived its lifespan, maybe it’s time to finally let it rest
Rhys Reviews 
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